1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a built-in packing for the material exchange and/or heat exchange between gases and liquids.
2. Description of the Related Art
A built-in packing of the above-described type is mounted with a plurality of additional built-in packings, for example, in a wet cooling tower, in such a way that water to be cooled can travel from the top toward the bottom, on the one hand, and that cooling air can travel through the built-in packings in a transverse flow and/or counter-current flow, on the other hand.
Various built-in packings of this type composed of undulating plate-like or foil-like mounting elements are explained in German Patent 23 22 683. All of these mounting elements have closed surfaces on which the water to be cooled flows down in thin layers. For interrupting the tendency of the formation of a stream-like flow or thread-like flow, it is also known in this connection to provide holes or projections, wherein these holes or projections may be arranged in or on the surfaces or also in the corner areas of the undulations.
However, independently of whether the channels formed by the undulations extend horizontally, vertically or obliquely, closed water layers are always in principle in a heat-exchanging contact with the cooling air. This inevitably limits the heat-exchange efficiency.
Another property of the known types of construction is the fact that they are sensitive to dirt. Cleaning of the mounting elements in the assembled state is essentially not possible.
Moreover, DE 41 11 451 C2 discloses dripping or trickling mounting elements in the form of tubular bodies which are combined to form packet-like elements. The tubular bodies are severed with a length corresponding to the height or the width of the element from a continuously manufactured tubular lattice body formed by intersecting strands, and the lattice bodies which are in contact with each other are connected rigidly to each other at least at their end faces.
In these dripping or trickling mounting elements, the helically shaped strands also contact the water which flows down on them. The individual points of intersection of the strands have the purpose of causing the individual water streams flowing along the strands to be divided and reunited.